PHILADELPHIA – Each time Eagles defensive coordinator Bill Davis answered a question Monday you could feel the power of his mentors.

Davis made the media dizzy with explanations culled from time spent coaching with Dom Capers, Dick Nolan, Vic Fangio and Dick LeBeau, the latter in the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

Trying to get Davis to commit to a specific alignment was an exercise in futility as he preferred to keep everyone guessing.

“I know everyone wants to know is it 3-4 or is it 4-3?” Davis said during the availability to interview Chip Kelly’s coaching staff. “I wouldn’t be a very good coach if I just said it’s a 3-4. It’s who we have and what we can do with that. If it’s a 3-4, that’s what it will be. If it’s not then it won’t be.”

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The Eagles are seriously short of personnel to play the 3-4 with three down linemen and four linebackers that Davis is most experienced in. The Eagles have used the 4-3 with four down linemen and three linebackers under their previous four head coaches spanning 27 years.

Consider the defense a work in progress.

Kelly thinks the 47-year-old Davis is just the guy to work it. Though Kelly took close to two weeks to hire Davis after interviewing him, the head coach insisted he got the guy he wanted.

“For me, it was just being thorough,” Kelly said. “I felt like after interviewing him, he was the guy I wanted to work with. And I also knew instead of jumping at the first thing, to make sure we had an opportunity to look around. I explained that to Billy. ‘I thought you did an outstanding job. I’d love to work with you but I wouldn’t be doing my due diligence if I didn’t get a chance to talk to some other people.’

“When I did talk to other people it just reaffirmed that Billy was the guy. And I know I keep saying great fit but that was the most important thing of putting anybody together here on this staff.”

Kelly said he was denied in a request to talk to another candidate for the defensive coordinator position. But Kelly denied it was Ed Donatell of the Super Bowl champion Baltimore Ravens.

“Yes, we made a request for somebody,” Kelly said. “But we weren’t waiting for that. We wanted to see what was the best possible scenario out there. I knew when I met Billy that I wanted to hire him.”

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Outside linebackers coach Bill McGovern was the freshmen coach at Penn in 1985 when Jerry Berndt, Ed Zubrow, Gary Steele and others guided the Quakers to the Ivy League championship.

“It really was a great experience, a great opening into coaching,” said McGovern, who spent the past 12 years at Boston College, the last four as defensive coordinator. “I’ve known Chip a long time. (Eagles defensive line coach) Jerry Azzinaro and myself have coached together and known each other for a number of years. When they called it didn’t take much time to think about it. I was down here very shortly after the phone call.”

NOTES

Kelly laid down the law about social media with running back LeSean McCoy, who got into a Twitter war with the mother of his child. McCoy apologized for his lack of decorum. “I cautioned him, just like I cautioned everybody on this team, of what goes on with social media,” Kelly said. “I think sometimes people think a conversation is going on with between two people but the whole wide world is watching. I believe our job as coaches is to educate our guys and help them out.” … Eagles center Jason Kelce (ACL surgery) has begun running and hopes to participate in the non-contact portion of minicamp … Kelly’s understanding is offensive tackle Jason Peters, coming off two surgeries for a torn Achilles’ tendon, is doing well. Asked if Peters would be the starting left tackle, Kelly responded “He’ll be in the competition at left tackle.” … Sports Science Coordinator Shane Huls, who trained Navy SEALs, was not included in the coaching availability. Huls certainly has stirred interest in the way the Eagles will train, though. “I just think it’s a different experience that he brings to the table,” said Kelly, who then had a little fun with the hiring. “But are we planning to attack a foreign country? No. We’ve got enough trouble with the 31 teams we’ve got in this league.”